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Giving men their dignity

Liberty Manor for Veterans Inc. is Jeff Luddeke’s way to help his “brothers in arms.”

By JACKIE RIPLEY
Published May 26, 2006

UNIVERSITY AREA — It’s been seven years since a cocaine addiction sent Gordy Million’s carefully constructed life careening out of control. But in the past year or so he has worked to put that life back together, only this time on a firmer foundation.

“Being happy with yourself and knowing the right thing to do is more important than accumulating things,’’ said Million, a 53-year-old father of four who once owned a successful business in Bradenton. “I’ve accomplished so much, but it wasn’t true happiness.’’

Million, a Vietnam veteran, also is looking for peace of mind. That’s something he has in common with eight other men with whom he shares a home off Nebraska Avenue on Ninth Street in the University area. They call it Liberty Manor and it’s a home for homeless veterans.

“We’re all brothers in arms,’’ said Jeff Luddeke, the resident manager and brains behind the venture. “I named it Liberty Manor so that it could be a place with dignity and would be a home.’’

Only a few months old, Liberty Manor for Veterans Inc. is a not-for-profit organization. It is housed in a two-story masonry home built in 1954. The house has been renovated and enlarged to 3,000 square feet so that about a dozen men can live there comfortably. There are bedrooms upstairs and down, a kitchen and a spacious screen porch. A cottage out back provides more housing.

The men, who pay $500 a month to live there, are screened by Luddeke, who served in the Persian Gulf War. Luddeke said he is careful to choose men who can manage with little supervision. The others, he said, are referred for other services such as drug rehab or counseling.

Luddeke, who has had his own battles with drugs and alcohol, enlisted the help of William and Connie Blaney, a Tampa couple, who provided money for the pilot project.

“I do what I can,’’ said Connie Blaney, whose parents were veterans. “It’s terrible the way we treat our veterans.’’
The Veterans Administration provides many of the referrals for Liberty Manor. Most of the men are in their 40s and 50s. Most also are homeless. And some, like Army veteran Tim Solem, are alcoholic.

“I was living on the street in my car,’’ said Solem, 52. “I was working month to month, then week to week. But when you go day to day you can’t get out of that.’’

Some of the men go to work every day while others such as Ralph Incardona, a former Marine who served in Korea, are on disability pensions.

“Most other places, you get out of work at 5 or 6, then you start meetings,’’ Incardona said. “Then on Sunday and Wednesday you go to church. When do you do your laundry?’’

The men keep their own schedules and provide their own food. Some receive food stamps, others have jobs. They also receive donations from America’s Second Harvest of Tampa Bay.

There is no formal counseling at Liberty Manor. Instead, the men keep up with their own counseling sessions or AA meetings. Many evenings are spent around the television in the living room.

Liberty Manor’s future looks promising. But the men still have a wish list. High on that list is a coin-operated washer and dryer, coin-operated because it would offset the cost of electricity and encourage self-sufficiency.
Luddeke said the men also could use linens and towels, “or a freezer for the back porch and a rack of ribs.’’

Luddeke said the men’s needs are varied but they could use an accountant to help some of them repair their credit. Some also would benefit from mentoring.

“Or a family just to take a vet out for lunch on a Sunday,’’ Luddeke said. “Or just someone who wants to come in, sit down and talk or bring a movie over and sit down and watch.’’

Luddeke, who managed two other similar programs, said he only gets discouraged when he thinks of how many veterans there are and how few resources there are to help them.

“I’m just a guy who was given a second chance,’’ he said. “I made it to the other side and now I want to give somebody else the same hope.’’

For more information on Liberty Manor call (813) 352-7856 .

Jackie Ripley can be reached at ripley@sptimes.com or at (813) 269-5308.

[Last modified May 25, 2006, 17:23:58]